Tag: Rav Kook
Lord Balfour Declared, President Trump Implemented
On November 2, 1917, the Balfour Declaration appeared on the world stage.
A Legacy of Achdus
Inevitably when tragedies like this happen there is a sudden burst of Achdus. Tragedies unite.
Religious-Zionist Rabbis Welcome Evolution into School Curriculum
Israel's rabbis don't see evolution as a threat, and some believe it will help the students add more depth and understanding to their Torah learning and faith.
The Holocaust and Jewish Morality: The Views of a Survivor
The question of Jewish identity, for example, has been greatly affected by the legacy of the Holocaust.
Does Elu V’Elu Mean Tolerating the Intolerable?
This was simply an opportunity to capitalize on something they thought would have universal appeal in the Charedi world.
I’m Not Voting for Obama, that’s for Sure
“How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” King David asks. The answer is that we can’t.
Warning! Xmas!
If you think that living in a Xtrian land doesn’t affect you at all, it’s because your brain has been so saturated with dreams of white Christmases.
We Ain’t Got a Soul in America
Jewish life changes when we are in Galut. Not only does our Clalli soul disappear, but every detail of our life is affected.
Graveyard, New York
Thriving and prospering, materially and even spiritually in galut, with an abundance of Torah learning and observance, is nevertheless defined by the Torah, our Prophets and Sages, as death.
Rav Kook’s Secret Writings: A Drama In Several Parts
JERUSALEM – Clandestine photocopying of tucked-away documents in Israel’s National Library, hurried text messages of selected passages verifying their pristine, unpublished condition, and question marks surrounding the editing and possible censorship practices of trusted editors from eighty years ago.
TORAH, TORAH, TORAH
During the reign of King Solomon, the Nation of Israel was at its prime. We lived in peace in our own homeland. A Jewish government ruled over the country from the majestic city of Jerusalem. All of the people gathered for the Festivals at the Temple three times a year. Jewish law went forth from the Sanhedrin. Prophets communicated the word of the Lord to the Nation and the world. A powerful Jewish army guarded the country’s borders. Torah was studied in great academies of learning. Hebrew was spoken on the street. The leaders of foreign nations flocked to Jerusalem to pay tribute to the Jews.
Absolute Joy
There is a special mitzvah on Sukkot to be “ach samaoch.” Only joyous. It is a happiness not dependent on anything external, beyond definition and words. Just to be absolutely joyous in one’s love and worship of G-d. Rabbi Kook describes the sukkah as a whirlpool of joyous energy which is constantly changing each second, reaching ever-higher levels of joy and attachment to G-d.
Zionism is T’shuva Too!
To rectify the blemish caused by galut, the Diaspora Jew has to stop being in exile and join the ingathered. He has to actualize the words of his daily prayers, “And gather us together from the four corners of the earth” by getting on a plane.
Gentlemen, To the Land of Israel!
One of Rav Kook's public proclamations, sent out all over the Diaspora, years before the Holocaust, was entitled, “The Great Call”: "To the Land of Israel, gentlemen, to the Land of Israel! Let us utter this appeal in one voice, in a great and never-ending cry."
Homeward Bound
L
eading up to the holiday of Sukkot, we’ll wrap up our condensed look at Rabbi Kook’s teachings on t’shuva with a few blogs on two of the holidays most important themes – Eretz Yisrael and Torah.
The World’s Leader: Israel
Inspired by the Holy Nation of Israel, mankind will abandon its vain and misguided paths, and a mighty spirit of t’shuva will be ignited throughout the world.
Goodbye World, I’m Off to the Mountains!
Rabbi Kook’s advice is to set out correcting the transgressions of the past which are within the person’s reach to correct. This will set into motion a snowball of t’shuva whose inner force will lead him to correct matters more and more difficult, until he succeeds in redressing all wrongs.
Madonna and Kabbalah Don’t Mix
The more you learn Torah, the more t’shuva you will be inspired to do — and the more t’shuva you do, the more Torah you are able to learn.
Rocket Ship of T’shuva
Sudden t’shuva is different. It seems to come about all at once with superhuman energy and willpower.
The Key to Success
Rabbi Kook has good news. If you are a loser, all is not lost. You too can be a winner. You too can succeed. How? Through t’shuva.
Thoughts Make the Man
Dear Friends, the clock is ticking down to Rosh HaShanah. You can hear the shofars blasting all over the world. T’shuva may seem like a towering mountain too high to climb, but it’s really not as hard as you think.
The Heroes of T’shuva
The true champions of life are not the basketball players, not the Hollywood stars, not even the Prime Ministers and Presidents. The real heroes are the masters of t’shuva.
Saturday Night Fever
There is an old aphorism which claims that two things in life are certain: death and taxes. To this, Rabbi Kook would add a third certainty — t’shuva.
T’shuva Brings Healing to the World
When a man understands that his personal t’shuva advances the redemption process of the world, his motivation to mend his own life is enhanced.
T’Shuva and Finding Happiness
Rabbi Kook teaches that t’shuva encompasses man’s physical being, his moral life, religious life, and his highest, most ideal intellectual endeavor. T’shuva is man’s...
You Can be a Giant!
When a Jew makes Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, the letters of his soul shift into high gear and multiply in size. All of his being gets bigger. He grows closer to God. Compared to the person he was in Galut, he becomes larger than life. He transforms into a giant, filled with greater valor, greater holiness, greater happiness and wisdom.
“Why Should I Live in Israel? America Has Everything I Need”
One of the questions a person is asked when he reaches his Heavenly rest is, "Did you yearn for Salvation?" If a Jew does not long for the Redemption, for Salvation from the exile, then something is wrong. If he is happy in the Diaspora, then his Judaism is out of focus, and he is out of touch with his soul's deepest yearnings. As The Kuzari poignantly declares, his prayers for Jerusalem and Zion are like the chatterings of a nightingale, melodious but empty of meaning.
Don’t Ask What Israel Can Do For You – Ask What You Can Do...
The thought that Eretz Yisrael is an accessory to Judaism, and not a central pillar in itself, is a tragic distortion which was caused by the nearly 2000 year exile of the Jewish People from the Land of Israel. After years of wandering - scattered among the gentiles, separated from our homeland- our orientation to the Land of Israel became distorted and confused.
Jerusalem in the Twilight Zone
Here I was, just out of New York, not knowing what the Torah was really about, surrounded by tens of thousands of ecstatic davening Jews, with the choruses of “Amen, yihe shamai rabbahs” ringing in my ears like the blasts of the shofar on Mount Sinai. What can I tell you? New York and Hollywood were blown out of my brain, like a dream that never happened, just like the Psalm says: “When the Lord brings back the captives of Zion, we were like those who dream.”
An Honorable Failure
Even before they were born, Jacob and Esau struggled in the womb. They were destined, it seems, to be eternal adversaries. Not only were they different in character and appearance, they also held different places in their parents’ affections.